


The Northwind Knows Only Pain

by musicalgirl4474



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst, George Washington is a Dad, Hamilton is suffering from Shock, Hurt/Comfort, I can't even tell, Mutilation, Or maybe Hurt No Comfort, and I wrote the dang thing, mentioned - Freeform, the bad conditions aboard British POW ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicalgirl4474/pseuds/musicalgirl4474
Summary: The patriots take a British prisoner ship. Their comrades have been at the British's tender mercies for two days, but much damage can be done in that time.Whumptober #4Running out of timeCaged/Buried Alive/Collapsed Building
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956718
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	The Northwind Knows Only Pain

The ship had been about to depart when the Patriots had swarmed it, determined to reclaim the prisoners taken in the most recent battle. The British had thought them routed, had thought that the single group had been the only one left behind when the main army had moved on. But Washington had sent scouts to check on the stragglers who had been packing up the last of the camp, and then arranged for an assault on the British prison ship left behind in the harbor.

That British prison ships were cast-offs of the navy and therefore slow allowed time for the continental soldiers to take their time in setting up the attack. The guards aboard the prison ship were not prepared for the artillery assault the continentals mustered, and they surrendered after just a few volleys.

The prisoners who were able to free themselves staggered up from the brig, but most were chained below deck. Hamilton was chained below deck.

Washington takes the steps into the hold knowing that even the two short days that the soldiers had been imprisoned were long enough to do some serious damage. Still, he is not ready for the conditions. The smell is what hits him first, the men have not been given a place to relieve themselves except for the floor, and excrement and bile do not mix into a pleasant scent.

The captain of the guards had surrendered the keys to the prisoners’ chains with little fuss, though the smirk did not make Washington feel better. One key, somewhere near thirty prisoners. Washington had turned the key over to John Laurens to free the men, and the young man got right to work when he and Washington left the stairs and entered the large space.

Washington glanced quickly around, breathing shallowly through his mouth to avoid the worst of the smell. He couldn’t hold back the gasp when he caught sight of Alexander though.

A cage. They had put his boy in a cage, clad only in his breeches, red hair a tangled mess. He made his way quickly over to where his boy was curled with his back to the rest of the room.

“He’s not in a good way Sir,” said one of the soldiers chained nearby. “They tried to get information from him, but he wouldn’t give it. They weren’t easy on ‘im.”

Washington nodded his thanks to the man and moved to crouch next to the small cage, peering through the bars at his boy’s face. The heavy bruising on his cheek and jaw were nearly obscured by blood, which dripped slowly from the cut over one closed eye. His bare torso was also heavily bruised; the most worrying bruising on his ribs. If there was internal bleeding . . . . “Tillghman,” he calls to his long-serving aide, “get all of the keys from the captain. We need to get this open.”

“Yes sir.” Tillghman looks pale in the damp lighting, horror etched onto his face, but he turns swiftly and makes his way back to the upper deck.

“Alexander?” the boy doesn’t move, but Washington was nearly sure that the boy was not as deeply asleep as he seemed. His muscles seemed too tense. “My boy, we’re going to get you out of there.”

“Sir-” the nearby soldier spoke up again. “The British- they decided that if he wouldn’t tell them anything, that he should never be able to tell anyone else anything ever again.” There was silence for a moment, then: “they cut out his tongue, Sir.”

Behind him, he heard Laurens make an enraged, wounded sound from where he was working on the former prisoners’ chains. He felt his own heart breaking for the boy before him, who seemed to have withdrawn from the world. How much two days can change things. “Alexander?” he called gently, and reached one hand through the bars to touch the boy’s face gently. Blood that he had thought was from small cuts must be from the mutilation he had suffered. Tired eyes blinked open, but stared vaguely at the wall in front of him, not turning to look at the General.

“Here you are sir!” Tillghman is out of breath, and looks slightly sick as he hands the ring of keys over. The largest one looks as if it would fit the lock to the cage door, and Washington fits it in with shaking fingers. The door opens with a heavy creak and Alexander pulls himself tighter into a ball. He’s trembling, and Washington doesn’t think it’s only from the cold.

“Come my boy,” he cajoles, getting an arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulling the limp form into his chest. A choked sound of pain pushed past Alexander’s lips, his eyes still seeming not to focus on anything. “We need to get him to Doctor Mann,” Washington said, standing quickly.

The boy was pale and unresponsive, face covered in blood. And he’d been mutilated. Washington tucked the boy closer to himself, glaring murder at the small cage that had held his boy. May God strike down whatever abominable excuse for a man had decided that Hamilton belonged in a cage that, in all likelihood, was meant for a dog.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Hamilton is suffering from Shock at the moment here, but since Shock wasn't used as a medical term until 1730s, I don't know if Washington would have known the name or signs forty years later. Information moved kind of slowly, and doctors seem to have rather jealously guarded some of the medical information.


End file.
